A bombshell email and a radical shakeup: is the University of Sheffield 'panicking'?

Good morning readers — and welcome to Thursday’s Tribune.

Earlier this month, the leaders of Sheffield University revealed plans for a drastic restructure, one that would condense 42 schools and departments into around 22 schools. A Frankenstein school of five different subjects is taking bizarre shape, while the School of Law is set to end up in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

The university’s leadership have explained the reasoning behind this plan — but not everyone is buying it and the rumour mill is whirring into gear. As one staff member asked when I pushed for her theory, “how cynical do you want me to be?”

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🏫 The government has reportedly reneged on its promise to pay for the removal of dangerous RAAC concrete from the roof of Abbey Lane Primary in Woodseats. Education chiefs at Sheffield City Council say the Department for Education has "gone back" on its pledge to foot the £620,000 bill for the repair job, which began months before RAAC became a national scandal in July and is scheduled to finish by December. The Star gave the Department for Education four days to respond to a request for comment but didn’t receive anything back.

🍁 A “cannabis janitor” has been sentenced to jail for tending weed plants at a property in Darnall, despite signs suggesting something more sinister was afoot. Rigles Ndreka, from Albania, travelled to the UK illegally to work off a £50,000 debt he owed in his home country, the court heard, and has attempted to claim asylum because of the danger he faces back home. Despite this, he told police no one else was involved in the operation, leading the judge to remark that he is likely to be “protecting someone thoroughly evil”. Staff from Project Snowdrop, a charity that supports victims of modern slavery, recently told the Tribune that criminals running cannabis farms frequently employ modern slaves, especially from Albania.

🌊 On Saturday, around 120 homes in Catcliffe were flooded after the River Rother broke its banks due to Storm Babet. However, a volunteer flood warden claims he warned the Environment Agency that the village would be impacted six hours before they issued an alert. Residents received flood warnings on their mobile phones at about 2.30am, by which time defences had been breached and water was flowing onto streets.

Things to do

🎻 On Friday, 27 October, Ensemble 360’s celebrated cellist Gemma Rosefield returns to Upper Chapel to conclude her series of Bach’s beloved Cello Suites. Interspersing music with conversation and questions. Immerse yourself in the intricate melodies of Bach’s cello masterpieces. From the haunting prelude to an energetic gigue, the many movements of each suite showcase the versatility and expressiveness of the cello. Tickets are £5-16.

💀 On Saturday, 28 October, Reel Steel presents a “radioactive” zombie double-bill at the Abbeydale Picture House. In The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974) two young travellers arrive in a small town where a radiation-fueled agricultural machine is bringing the dead back to life. In Nightmare City (1980), after a nuclear accident, a group of soldiers turn into an army of flesh-hungry ghouls. Tickets are £8.40 and the double-bill starts at 6pm.

📚 On Sunday, 29 October, writer, journalist and DJ Stuart Maconie will appear at the Off The Shelf festival to talk about his new book The Full English. Following in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley’s English Journey, Maconie takes inspiration from the people he meets and examines our past and present with affection and insight. The event, which begins at 3pm at Firth Hall, will last one hour and will be followed by a book signing. Tickets are priced £8-10.

A bombshell email and a radical shakeup: is the University of Sheffield 'panicking'?

Earlier this month, at a time when some freshers were still unpacking their things, staff at the University of Sheffield received an 11 paragraph-long email. It was from vice-chancellor Koen Lamberts and described “plans to create a new structure for our University”. The plans, as it turned out, were quite radical. 

The email said staff would be consulted on the details of the proposals, but not for long. One professor – who, along with other staff members The Tribune spoke to for this story, asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their jobs – says the university leadership seems to want to finalise its plans and “wrap things up before Christmas”. 

The changes will affect four of the university’s five faculties in Sheffield, condensing 42 schools and departments into around 22 schools. Vice-chancellor Lamberts was keen to assure staff that this wasn’t a repeat of the closure of the world-renowned archaeology department, which sparked massive protests two years ago (as we reported on at the time). “We know that the breadth and depth of what we offer at Sheffield brings real advantages,” he wrote to staff, so departments wouldn’t be closing. Some of them would simply be merging. 

There is a whisper circulating the halls that some of these mergers might just be bloodless closures, a surreptitious way of avoiding the furore of two years ago. “How cynical do you want me to be?” one staff member asks, when I push for her theory on why the restructure is happening. “Look at what happened with archaeology, it was a huge PR mess. If you have larger schools, it’s much easier to shut down a programme.”

Certainly, while some of the proposed mergers make sense to the staff we have spoken to, others they find harder to understand. One of the strangest examples is a new school being formed in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, a somewhat bizarre lovechild of five different subjects. It will contain both the Department of Music and the School of East Asian Studies, two subjects that don’t seem to overlap much outside of the study of East Asian music. Added into this mix is the School of Languages and Cultures – as in all of them, not just those from East Asia – and both the Modern Languages Teaching Centre and the English Language Teaching Centre. 

The School of Law is also undergoing a surprising transition, leaving the Faculty of Social Sciences and joining the Faculty of Arts and Humanities instead. One of the school’s professors told The Tribune he was “completely taken aback” by the decision, which will separate the school from the subjects it most often collaborates with, such as sociology and politics. “The main concern in my department,” he said, “is how we are going to maintain these connections and how this will affect our image and identity.”

The University of Sheffield is, by this point, something of an expert in  reshuffles. Since 2019, there have been at least 25 – now 26 – restructures and reviews of one kind or another. But this restructure, both because of its drastic nature and the speed with which the university wants to push it through, has prompted an unusual level of concern. Last week, the university’s three unions – UNISON, UCU and Unite – organised an impromptu open meeting to discuss their response, attended by 500 members of staff. It was, one member said, the biggest meeting of its kind that they had ever attended.

Those I spoke to had a number of theories on why the university’s leadership is doing this and why they are doing it now. In his email, Lamberts wrote that the restructure “is not about saving costs,” a claim many of those I spoke to took at face value. Were they right to?